This book breaks new ground for the philosophy of religion by showcasing work that engages with the lived reality of the spiritual life.

Victoria S. Harrison is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Macau, China. Until 2016, she was Reader in Philosophy at the University of Glasgow, where she directed the Forum for Philosophy and Religion.

Tyler Dalton McNabb is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at St. Francis University, Pennsylvania.

Acknowledgments

List of Contributors

Preface

1 The spiritual life and philosophy: a historical and contemporary orientation

Rhett Gayle, Victoria S. Harrison, and Tyler Dalton McNabb

PART I Spiritual practice and philosophical understanding

2 Beginning with the spiritual life

Mark R. Wynn

3 Engagement, immersion, and enactment: the role of spiritual practice in religious belief

John Cottingham

4 Philosophy as a spiritual exercise: some ethical and aesthetic reflections

Douglas Hedley

PART II Philosophical reflections on living a spiritual life

5 The unexamined life is not worth living: examination of conscience and philosophy as a way of life

Daniel D. de Haan

6 Blinding darkness: or, whose being is this, anyway?

Gwen Griffith-Dickson

7 A pluralist account of spiritual exemplarity

Ian James Kidd

8 Self-transformation and spiritual exemplars

Victoria S. Harrison and Rhett Gayle

PART III Philosophical problems concerning the spiritual life

9 The problem of the self-ascription of sainthood

Gorazd Andrejc

10 Boredom and divine infinity

Jonathan Hill

11 Desire and the spiritual life

Fiona Ellis